122 



Diatribatioa, c o amon names and uses 



[Ziiis tree is not unfrequent in the eastern forests of 

 Panama v/here its hard and fine-grained wood is much ^^rized. 

 Besides being used in various v/ays in the native building 

 and joiner crafts, it is said to -Tialce the best jjole for 

 pulling UiJ the rivers the dugouts or oanoes. 



'i?he Myrtaceous Aulacocar^;us , which has several other re- 

 presentatives, is exclusively American, but it belongs, along 

 with the Chilian 'Jej^ualia , tc the sub-fanily cf the Le./tos- 

 permoideae, all other memoers of v/hich are Australian, 



CoiabretaGeae 



u^he obovate- leaved l^erminalia 



Terminalia obovata (Poir.), _:ichler. :ricr. bras. 14i:91-l367. 



Description of t h e tre e 



A middle sized, deciduous tree, the trunk erect, covered 

 with a reddish, smooth bark, the crown elongate, the ulti- 

 mate branchleta slender, wisjj-like, at first rubiginous pu- 

 bescent, glabrescent later. (leaves alternate, clustered at 

 the end of the branchlets, at first rubiginous pubescent, 

 glabrous later; ^^etiolss terete, 3 to 7 mm. long; blades 

 obovate, acuminate or <btase, long attemlate at the base, 

 4,0 to 0.4 ca. long, 2.5 to 4 cm. broad; bractlets lanceolate, 



densely rubiginous pubescent, 2 to 3 mm. long caducous. 

 Floral spikes simple, clustered at the end of defoliate 

 branchlets, pendulous, G to 11 cm. long, the rachis slender, 

 pubescent; flowers sessile, distant, bracteolate; calyx 

 broadly 5-lobed , about 4 mm. in diameter, sparsely pubescent 

 without, the subacute Ivbes densely cilia te; corolla none; 

 stamens 10, long exserted, glabrcus, the anther cells ovate; 

 disc annular, ^^ulvinate, very hairy; ovary inferior, ob^y- 

 riform, 4-angled, pubescent, 2-celled, each cell 1-oviilate; 



style glabrous, slightly longer than the stamens.) 



